Mechanic loses savings to scammer posing as cop

14 Sep 2019 / 18:08 H.

KUANTAN: A mechanic lost his savings totalling RM27,400 yesterday after he transferred the money to an account purported to belong to Bank Negara, on the instructions of a scammer posing as a police officer.

The 39-year-old had received a call at 8.50am yesterday by a man who had identified himself as an ‘Inspector Raja Afiq’ who proceeded to interrogate him on the phone in connection with drug and money laundering activities which the victim was allegedly involved in.

The scammer had questioned the victim on the amount of money in his savings account, after which the latter was instructed to transfer the funds to an account purported to belong to Bank Negara, for the purposes of facilitating investigations into the case involving the victim, said Pahang Commercial Crime Investigation Department head Supt Mohd Wazir Mohd Yusof to the media today.

The victim lodged a police report yesterday after he was told by the scammer that he needed to pay more money to settle the ‘case’, despite having transferred the funds of RM27,400 through a total of 20 online transactions.

Investigations in connection with section 420 of the Penal Code are underway, said Mohd Wazir who added that police were investigating another case in which a factory supervisor had reported that scrap metal and other metal weighing a total of 10 tonnes and estimated to be worth RM20,000 had gone missing.

The supervisor told police that the factory’s 26-year-old security guard had the key for the access gate to the area where the metal had been stored. — Bernama